Cleaners for railroad car wheels and bearings



July 5, 1955 J. A. SCHROEDER ET AL 2, ,3 0

CLEANERS FOR RAILROAD CAR WHEELS AND BEARINGS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledJan. 25, 1954 INVENTORS \/0/// J July 5, 955 J. A. SCHROEDER ET AL2,712,320

OR RAILROAD CAR WHEELS AND BEARINGS CLEANERS F 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledJan. 25, 1954 w a, 55:5; 1 51% lb I u CLEANERS FOR RAILROAD CAR WHEELSAND BEARINGS 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan.

n mmwvwm WWW, m E T WZ M .FJQ 5 United States Patent Ofl 2,712,320Patented July 5, I955 ice This invention relates to a device forcleaning railway car wheels, journals, and bearings, and is moreparticularly applicable to wheels having anti-friction bearings of theball and roller types.

The principal object of the invention is to provide, in

a single, unitary evice, means whereby the wheels, jour- A still furtherthe cleaned wheels from the device after eration has been completed.

Other objects and struction of the the cleaning op apparent from thefollowing description.

In the following detailed description of the invention,

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the improved car wheel and bearing cleaningdevice;

Fig. 2 is a front view thereof, illustrating it in the open position,with a conventional car wheel assembly in place therein; 7

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, taken on the line 33, Fig. 4, with ain place therein;

Fig. 4 is a similarly enlarged, fragmentary horizontal section, taken onthe line 44, Fig. 3, with the wheel assembly removed;

Fig. 5 is a still further enlarged cross-section, taken on the line 5 5,Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail section, taken on the line 6 6, Fig. 4.

In the drawing a conventional car wheel axle is indicated at 10, withits wheels at 11 and wheel journals at 12.

vertical section, wheel assembly and 14 mounted in suitable supportingbearings 15. Each of the 4 carries a pair of fixedly mounted wheelsupporting rollers 16, the rollers on each shaft being object is toprovide means for ejecting It can be seen that if an axle 10 with itswheels 11 is rolled on the rails 17 toward the rollers 16, it will cometo rest between the rollers on the two shafts, and if these rollers arerotated, the wheels 11 will be simultaneously rotated. The shafts sideabout the sprockets. To remove the wheels from between the rollers 16,lifting levers 21 erably formed from angle irons and are hingedlyconnected to the extremities of means of a suitable hinge bolt of theangle irons positioned beneath the rims of the wheels 11. Treadprojections zontal legs of the lifting levers the pairs of adjacentrollers 16. The lifting levers 21 extend rails 17 and tated, to causethe cams 24 to lift the levers 21, by means l 27. The cylinder 27actuates a When it is desired to rollers 16, fluid under der 27 toactuate the them to roll down the incline of the lifting levers onto theoutgoing rails 13 and from the device.

position of Fig. 5.

The Wheels 11 and their journals are sprayed with suitable detergent andcleaning solutions from a plurality of spray nozzles 42 and 43. Thespray nozzles are mounted on vertically adjustable nozzle plates, 44

pivot 47 supported in a bracket 48 extending from one of the guides 45'.lever is provided with a foot rest 49 at one extremity and with alifting pad 50 at its other extremity, which bears against the bottom ofthe nozzle plate 44.

Each nozzle plate is supported at any desired height in its guides bymeans of a locking pin 51 which extends into any desired pin opening ina vertically spaced series of pin openings 52 formed in the plate 44.The purpose of the vertical adjustment of the nozzle plates 44 is toaxially align the latter with the wheel axle it) on car wheels ofvarious diameters.

The spray nozzles 42 are fixedly mounted in the nozzle plates 44 atequally spaced intervals around the periphery thereof. The spray nozzles43, however, are radially adjustable on the nozzle plates. Each of thenozzles 43 is mounted in the extremity of a nozzle lever 53, each ofwhich is pivoted, as shown at 54, on the adjacent plate 44 so as toswing in an arc parallel to the plane of the latter. The nozzles 43extend outwardly through arcuate slots formed in the plate 44. Each slotis concentric about the axis of the adjacent pivot member 54 so thateach of the nozzles 43 may be swung inwardly and outwardly toward theaxis of the plate 44. Cleaning fluid is fed under pressure to thenozzles 42 and 43 through a plurality of fluid hoses 63 leading fromfluid manifolds 64.

The adjustment of the nozzles 43 is accomplished through the medium of amultiple armed rotary member 56 mounted to rotate about an axis bolt 57concentrically positioned in each plate 44. Each arm of each of themembers 56 terminates in a stud 5S, and each stud rides in an elongatedslot 59 in one of the nozzle levers 43. The member 56 is rotated from ahand lever 60 which is formed as an extension of one of the arms of themember 56. The hand lever 66 can be locked in any desired angularposition by means of a locking pin 61 which can be interfitted into anyone of a plurality of locking holes 62 in the plate 44. It can be seenthat with cleaning fluid flowing through the nozzles 42, the

lever 60 can be actuated to swing the nozzles 43 inwardly and outwardlyto clean the entire wheel and journal surface.

As each wheel and axle assembly is prepared for entering the cleaninghousing, the bearing boxes are removed from the journals and placed onrotary tables 65 as indicated in broken line at 77 in Fig. 3. There isone rotary table at each extremity of the housing 30 to receive the twoboxes of the wheel and axle assembly being cleaned. This maintains eachbox opposite the journal from which it was removed so that each box canbe replaced upon its respective journal without interchange.

The rotary tables 65 are driven from pin wheels 66, the pins of whichenter notches 67 in the tables. The pin wheels are simply one means ofdriving the tables. They could be driven by bevel gears or the like. Oneof the pin wheels 66 is fixedly mounted on each extremity of the wheelshaft 14. The tables 65 are rotatably mounted about hollow verticalstandards 63 upon thrust bearings 79 supported on supporting sleeves 80resting upon supporting bases 81.

A fluid pipe 69 extends upwardly through the standard 68 above the tableand supports a w 'rling spray nozzle 70 upon a suitable ball bearing 78.The nozzle is provided with two downwardly extending tubes provided withspray perforations 82 positioned so that the reaction of the jets willwhirl the nozzle. A stepped base 71 is mounted concentrically of thetables 65, and the steps are designed to interfit into bearing boxes ofvarious diameters.

The tables 65 are mounted in table housings 72 at each extremity of thewheel housing 30. Access may be had to the table housings 72 through themedium of hinged lids 73 provided with hand lifts 74. The lids 73 can belatched in the open position by means of studs 75 secured to the lidsand positioned to be engaged by latch hooks 76 mounted on the doorguides 32.

It is believed that the operation of the device will be clear from theabove description. Briefly, a wheel and axle assembly is rolled up tothe device on the incoming rails 17. The two bearing boxes 77 areremoved from the journals 12 and placed on the two tables 65. The wheelsare then rolled into the housing 30 onto the rollers 16 and the doors 31are lowered.

Rotation of the shaft 13 is started and cleaning solution, preferablyhot, is pumped to the manifold 64 and the fluid pipes 69. The nozzles 42and 43 spray cleaning solution upon the wheels and journals while thejets from the whirling nozzles 76 thoroughly wash the bearings and thebearing boxes.

The rotation and solution flow is then stopped and hydraulic fluid isadmitted to the cylinders 39 to open the doors and to the cylinder 27 toroll the cleaned wheels onto the outgoing track rails 18 and from thedevice. The bearing boxes are now removed from the tables and replacedon their journals, and the job is completed.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described andillustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied,within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from thespirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired securedby Letters Patent is:

l. A device for cleaning the journals and bearings of a railway wheeland axle assembly comprising: spacedapart wheel-receiving rollersadapted to receive the wheels of said assembly; a nozzle-supportingmember positioned at each extremity of said wheel and axle assembly;nozzles mounted in each nozzle-supporting member; means for projectingcleaning fluid through said nozzles against said assembly; and means forrotating said rollers.

2. A device for cleaning the journals and bearings of a railway wheeland axle assembly as described in claim 1 having means for varying thepositions of said nozzles transversely of the axis of said wheel andaxle assembly.

3. A device for cleaning the journals and bearings of a railway wheeland axle assembly as described in claim 2 in which the means for varyingcomprises: a nozzlesupporting plate positioned at each extremity of saidWheel and axle assembly; vertical nozzle plate guides supporting eachplate, said plates being vertically movable in said guides; and meansfor supporting said plates at any desired height in said guides.

4. A device for cleaning the journals and bearings of a railway wheeland axle assembly as described in claim 3 having means for varying theradial position of certain of said nozzles on each of said nozzleplates.

5. A device for cleaning the journals and bearings of a railway wheeland axle assembly as described in claim 4 in which the means for varyingthe radial position of certain of said nozzles comprises: leverspivotally mounted on said nozzle plates so as to swing in a planeparallel to said plates; certain of said nozzles being mounted in theextremities of said levers; and means for swinging said nozzle levers.

6. A device for cleaning the journals and bearings of a railway wheeland axle assembly comprising: spacedapart wheel-receiving rollersadapted to receive the wheels of said assembly; a nozzle-supportingmember positioned at each extremity of said wheel and axle assembly;nozzles mounted in each nozzle-supporting member; means for projectingcleaning fluid through said nozzles against said assembly; and means forrotating said rollers, having incoming rails terminating adjacent saidrollers; outgoing rails initiating adjacent said rollers; and hingedlever means extending between the extremities of the incoming andoutgoing rails for lifting the wheels therebetween.

7. A device for cleaning the journals and bearings of a railway wheeland axle assembly as described in claim 6 having a cam shaft extendingtransversely of said rails; a cam on said shaft below each of said wheellevers; and means for rotating said cam shaft to cause said cams tosimultaneously contact and lift said wheel levers.

No references cited.

